


3 Years...

by summer_of_1985



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Only read after you've watched Season 3, Post-Season/Series 03, Three Years Later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-06-24 14:25:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19725484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summer_of_1985/pseuds/summer_of_1985
Summary: It's been 3 years since the Byers left Hawkins, Indiana. It's been 3 years since they Byers have set foot in Hawkins. It's been 3 years since El last saw her father, Hopper.It's been 2 and a half years since Mike saw his first girlfriend, El, having last seen her during Thanksgiving.3 years after the events of 1985, Mike still misses her like crazy, and so does El - however (even though Will speaks more to Mike than what El does), either really know what the other looks like anymore.





	1. Late for Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years after the Byers and El moved away from Hawkins, they have to keep going - no matter how much they miss the Party™.

The alarm clock on the nightstand was blinking 12:00, and the girl's bedroom door flew open.

"EL! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE! COME ON!" Will exclaimed louder than what he would usually. El shot up from the bed and looked at the watch on her wrist that the Byers had clubbed together to get her for her 16th birthday. One of her prized possessions.

"Shit!" She gasped, having started taking a bit of a potty mouth whenever she spoke to Dustin over the phone (he's probably the third most person she spoke to - with first going to Max, and then second being Mike, it honestly surprises her how much she speaks to Mike - considering she promised to speak as much as she could to him).

El flew out of bed, she began running around her bedroom, after Will shut the door behind him, she flung her pyjamas off and put her uniform on - as she works at the diner on the weekends and after school when she could.

El was in such a rush, she didn't have time to brush her hair, brush her teeth, or put any makeup on her face to cover up the spots that had started to erupt on her face. 

* * *

El ran out of her room, down the corridor and into the kitchen/living room where Joyce was stood there - holding El's work bag and her car keys - El was the last one to learn how to drive, getting her learners permit at 16 and a half, and only recently has she got her driving license - and she currently has a probationary license.

"Thank you, Joyce," El smiles, with the Byers taking El under their wing after Hopper died, she didn't really know where else to go. Joyce smiled at the girl, handing over the two things, and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Having a good day, sweetie," Joyce smiles, and stood by the door, as El climbed into the car and started the ignition. Will came flying past Joyce, quickly placing a kiss to her cheek and a fly-by 'goodbye' and climbed into the passenger seat.

She waved at the pair, as they set off for work. Will worked at Blockbuster, which had recently started flourishing, and with both of them working part-time as well as Joyce and Jonathan - they were currently making an alright time in their new town, compared to how the original Byers was doing in Hawkins. 

* * *

"Thanks for dropping me off, El," Will smiles, as she pulls up at the store, smiling at her. "I owe you one," Will continues, usually catching a ride with one of his co-workers, and because he overslept, he missed the ride.

"Anytime, Will, you know that," El's English and speaking skills had flourished since leaving Hawkins, and all of the Byers was extremely proud of her.

"See you later," Will says, grabbing his backpack and clambering out of the car, and rushed into the store, and the door made a jingle as it opened and closed.

She smiles and waves at her honorary brother, and starts driving to the diner, to begin her shift. 

* * *

El parks up in the last spot, smiling that she was able to get a spot rather than having to park in the lot nearby. She locked her car and sighed, not knowing what her boss was going to say.

She could see her co-worker and one of her close friends, Lily, stood behind the counter, so she knew the doors were open. There were also a couple of people already in the diner, some were regulars who stayed for breakfast (or came in for coffee before work), and there were some new faces, who were passing through the town and would be heading into the city.

"Oh my God! You would not believe the morning I just had," El says, closing the diner door behind her, the light tinkling of the bell above the door making her feel all the much better.

Lily smiled, finally seeing her - knowing that she is alive and she is only late by a couple of years. "Let's hear it then," Lily watched as El lifted up the side of the counter that was attached by a bracket and dropped her bag gently to the floor next to where Lily's was sat. It was sat were no grease or drops of water from the glasses dropping onto their bags.

"Well, we had to help Mrs Carmichael down the road, you know what her memory's like," El shrugs, reaching under the counter and pulling out her apron and she continued as she tied the apron around her waist. "Then there was the power cut last night, so my alarm didn't go off, Will had to wake me up, I only had time to put my uniform on. I didn't brush my hair or my teeth, or even put any of my makeup on," El sighed, leaning against the counter. "I didn't even have breakfast!" She then exclaimed, with Lily knowing how grumpy she can get without food in the morning.

Their cook who was stood in the window hear this, and started whipping something up for El for breakfast. Lily reached down and grabbed her bag, pulling out a hairbrush and a packet of breath mints that she always carried around for moments like this.

"Thanks, Lil," El smiled, as a group of four walked in and sat at one of Lily's tables. El sorted her self out, Lily went to attend to the new table, and the little bell behind El rang, indicating food.

"There's breakfast for you," their cook pushed the waffles towards El. As much as she loved her Eggos, the waffles that their chef - Mark - whip up are amazing.

She smiled and took the plate, "I'll take it out of my wage slip, I promise," El smiled, grabbing a knife and fork from behind her and started eating.

Not only was Mark the chef, but he was also the owner, and he knew how much the Byers had been struggling in their previous town and knew how much they needed it (not out of pity, but to help give the two teenagers, their older brother and Joyce a better life). "Don't worry about it, I'll take it out of mine," Mark answered, having been dealt a better stack of cards than El had. 

* * *

Lily walked over to the table of four and smiled, one girl, a dark-skinned boy, a dark-haired boy and a frizzy-haired girl held by a red, blue and white cap.

"What can get you guys?" She asked, and the girl spoke up first.

"Is it possible I can get a grilled cheese?" The red-haired asked, holding the menu between her fingers as she shares it with the dark-skinned boy next to her.

Lily took one look at her watch, and then looked at the girl. "Wait, aren't you Max? One of El's friends from her last town?" Lily asked, and the red-haired girl (now seen as Max) nodded, smiling. "I can pull some strings for you," Lily promises, making Max smiles.

The boys looked at Lily and then Max. "Guys, this is Lily, she's one of El's friends in this town," Max explains, as smiles at her. El had told her about Lily when she got her first job at the ice cream parlour (were she met Lily, and when Lily's parents opened the diner, they offered a job to El, and the pair left the ice cream parlour and went to the diner).

"These three are?" Lily asks, pointing to the boys. 

Max smiles and points at the boys respectively. "This is Lucas, Will and Mike," Max says, setting the menu down on the table. 

* * *

The rest of the party put their order in, and Lily walked away hoping that she could pull a few strings for the group of 4. She walked back around the counter, and put the little ticket on the spinner and swung it around to Mark.

El smiled at Lily, as she put her hair up using the scrunchie she away kept in her bag and handed the girl back her hairbrush. "That endless bag of yours is good enough for something," El smiled, as the doorway tinkled again.

"It's a Mary Poppins bag, isn't it?" Another girl came in on crutches, making the two girls behind the counter look at her with surprise.

"EMMA!" The girls smiled happily, jogged around the counter and hugged the hobbled girl.

Emma wrapped her arm around one girl and then the other, because of the surgery that she had to get her appendix out.

"Are you feeling any better?" El asks, placing a hand on her shoulder, her long hair fluttering between her shoulder blades.

"Yeah, I can eat what I usually do, but the doctor suggested that I eat 'bland' food for a while," Emma explained. "Plain rice, toast, yoghurt, that kind of thing," she continued.

El nodded, and finished her plate of waffles and pushed it back over the hole in the wall and back to Mark. "Thanks, boss," she smiled, and turned back around and looked at Emma. "It's nice to have my gossip machine up and moving again," El moved a piece of hair from her face. 

* * *

When the group's food was up, Lily placed it all on a tray and brought it over to the table, and handed the food over to its recipients. Which is when Mike spoke up.

"Does El know we're here?" He asks, not even taking one look at his meal, or even Lily - but the girl stood behind the counter, drying glasses and putting them where they belong. El looked so happy, smiling, laughing, showing her little dimples that he loved so much - he often wondered if she ever moved on, met another boy/man, fell in love again.

"Not yet, but I can tell her if you want," Lily says, smiling at the boy, hearing a lot about Mike than what she heard about Lucas and Dustin combined. But she'd heard a lot about Max as well, the spitfire red-head, who stood by her side after El dumped Mike. 

* * *

Lily walked back around the counter as El walked over to the other side, and took Mr Brown's order, as well as Sam and Liam's orders - with Sam being denied his cheeseburger after El got an earful from his doctor about his health.

"Sam, I've already been told by your doctor as well as your wife, I can't give you any more cheeseburgers, your health isn't coping," El said, crossing her arms at him.

Sam sighs, knowing he isn't going to get anywhere because El is stubborn as anything. He then decides to order something else to appease his wife. 

* * *

El walked back behind the counter and handed the ticket directly to Mark. "If Sam orders a cheeseburger, he's not aloud, his doctor and his wife have said that his health isn't getting any better, and if he wants to see his grandkids graduate from high school, he'd better lay off them," El explained, walking back to Lily's side as they looked at their little gossip machine, wanting to hear it all from the hospital (dubbed 'Hospital Gossip'.

"Oh, El, before I forget, Max is sat over there," Lily said, El's head shooting up and looking at Lily with utter shock. "As well as the ones called Lucas, Dustin and Mike," when Lily mentioned the last name El both perked up and sunk down.


	2. Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El goes on her break extremely early, she has a breakdown and the Party™ go home.

About 5 minutes after Lily let El know that the rest of the party had made their way into the town and into the diner, El's boss (and Lily's father) spoke up from the kitchen.

"Go on your break, El," he said, making El turn around in confusion, and Mike looked at the back of her head with his 'heart-eyes'.

"I've been here like 10 minutes, and you're already putting me on a break?" El asks, wondering what was going on with her boss.

His hand, which holds a spatula, dripping with grease from making the pancakes for the late breakfast run. "You wanna question me, kid?" Mark asked, it always made El's heart flutter when he called her 'kid', reminding her of Hopper.

"No," she shook her head, grabbed her bag and toddled around the side of the counter and stood behind Max, who never looked up. "Yeah, don't look up," she raised one half of her mouth in a strange kind of smile.

"EL!" Max exclaimed happily, seeing the girl she missed, jumping up (knocking her knee against the table edge) and squished El in a tight hug. "I missed you so much, I can't believe you left me there with these morons!" Max's arms wrapped around El's waist and El's went around Max's neck.

"I missed you too, Max!" The pair started swaying back and forth. El missed Max a lot, and it's not all that often that they came together and spent some time together, with their final exams coming up. 

* * *

El squeezed into Max and Lucas's side of the booth, which resulted in sitting across from Mike, who she hasn't since the 1985 Thanksgiving...

"Has Will got a job?" Lucas asks, his elbow on the table and looked at El.

"Yeah, he works at Blockbuster, about 4 blocks away," El explains, taking a fry from Dustin's plate, smiling at her friends.

El could see Sam finishing off his drink, it was the fifth drink he'd had since she came into work almost 10 minutes ago.

"Sam, that's the 5th since I got here!" She called looking over Mike's shoulder at the older man.

"It's his 12th since he came in!" Lily called, making El look at her, with her eyes as wide as saucers.

El looked from Lily then to Sam. "Seriously Sam!" She gave a look to Sam, and rolled her eyes at the man, and looked back at her friends.

She shakes her head as Max wraps her arm around El's shoulder. "What's it been like, living in this town?" Lucas asks after he'd given the town a once over when they arrived.

"Really quiet, like we're in-between battles, but we're not," El explains, wiggling her nose, as Lily's stupid and pain-in-the-ass boyfriend Tom walks in. "Oh, Jesus Christ," she mumbled.

"Ok, crazy, where's Lily?" He simply asks, not really caring about anyone else.

El's face falls into one of disgust. "Thanks, white noise, I'm doing fine," she smiles fakely and takes Max's empty plate. "LILY! YOUR BOYFRIEND'S HERE!" There was still the underlying tone of disgust as she walked away from the blonde boy.

"Tommy!" Lily squealed happily, jumping into his arms, and they started kissing like mad there and then.

"Lily, if you plan on giving your father a heart attack by the end of the day, get off him!" Mark exclaimed, making El laugh and smile wistfully - remembering every time Hopper would flip about the door (even when it was Max, and he apologised for that).

Mike even had a bittersweet smile on his face, remembering how much of a little shit he was to Hopper.

El stood up and pulled Lily away from Tom. "Listen to your dad, Lil. I never did," tears were welling up in El's eyes, as she walked into the kitchen - the door swinging behind her.

Mike watched her walk into the kitchen, knowing how much they put Hopper through, everyone says it gets easier with time - whoever says that is a liar.

"Is that why she always talks about three inches?" Lily asks, making a watery laugh leave Mike, a sniffle leaves Max as Lucas and Dustin lower their heads (the latter actually taking his hat off). 

* * *

El stood by the wall, her shaky hands holding the plate, and with a heavy sigh, she pushed herself away from the wall and started toddling around the kitchen, doing what needed to be done.

"El, you ok?" Mark asks, turning off the grill, and looking at the still shaken up teenager.

She blinks repeatedly and tries to push away the tears that want to stream down her face, "yes, I will be," El smiled, remembering what Hopper said to her a lot. " _I've got it under control_ ,"

Mark reached over and ran a hand up and down El's arm, his own way of comforting her.

The kitchen door slammed open, revealing Mike, who had his eyes set on El. El let out one sniffle, and she then found herself wrapped up in Mike's arms as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Whoever said it gets easier, is a liar!" El exclaimed, tightening her fingers on the collar of Mike's top, nuzzling her face into the junction of his neck and shoulder.

Mike was getting extremely teary-eyed and holds the girl he loves close to him. "I know, El. It's just something that we all have to deal with, as horrible as it sounds," Mike has one hand in her hair, and the other rubbing up and down her back. 

* * *

Not too long after El had calmed down, Mark decided to give El the rest of the day off, knowing that she wouldn't be able to do anymore (and promised to pay her the usual wage for a full day, which El was extremely grateful for).

El smiled at her boss, as he was on the phone, with another one of El and Lily's co-workers, asking them to come in, not wanting to embarrass El any further, which she was thankful for.

She picked up her bag and wiped away the tears that were still on her face.

"El, are you ok, my love?" Sam asked, having seen El walk out of the kitchen with tear marks on her cheeks, having heard a little about what happened before she moved here (about the loss of her father).

"I will be, Sam, thank you," El smiled kindly at the lovely old man, and sighed one last time - composing herself as her Party™ started collecting their things and got money out for the bill.

Sam, who was in his late 70s, creaked his way out of his booth and walked to were El stood, having moved around the counter, ready to leave. Sam handed her one of his handkerchiefs and patted her hand. "Your father was a good man," he said, making El smile at him.

"He was," she felt the familiar lump rising in her throat, and she pushed it back down. She embraced Sam like she usually does when he leaves after his meal. 

* * *

El unlocked her car, opening the door and pulled the driver side door back and looked at her friends. "Who's calling shotgun?" She asks as Lucas and Dustin climb into the back, knowing it will be a fight between Max and Mike.

The pair started squabbling, Max pulling forward that she is El's best friend, and Mike pulling forward that... he couldn't really call himself her boyfriend anymore, but if he hadn't found El in the rain back in 1983, Max wouldn't know who El is.

"Screw this!" Lucas exclaimed, getting back out of the car, and brought out a coin from his pocket. "Heads it's Max, tails it's Mike,"

Lucas flipped the coin, catching it in the palm of his hand, and slamming it on the back of his hand. Lifting his hand, he and El could see the head of President Franklin Roosevelt, indicating heads.

"Max, the shotgun is yours," he said, showing the coin to Max and Mike. Mike grumbled and let Lucas climb in first so El could see out of the back window (as he now stands at just over 6ft tall).

El made sure Mike was comfortable, before clicking the driver's seat back into place. "Are you ok, Mike?" She asks as he shuffles a little once the seat was in place. Mike mouths a 'yeah' to her and held the seat in place as she got in. He didn't really trust that the seat was in place.

Max climbed into the other side, and obnoxiously shuffled her seat, just to get on Dustin's nerves (as he was sat behind her).

"Because you got shotgun, you've got control of the music," El said, smiling at Max, and started the car, which rumbled to life, and Max's face brightened at the knowledge.

El adjusted the mirror which helps her see out the back window, muttering how Will moved it earlier in the day, or earlier in the week (as the pair share the car).

Lily comes flying out of the diner, and El rolled her window down in time, "girls night, I'm coming round tonight, right?" Lily says, gasping for breath - Lily would be bringing Emma along with her.

"Yeah, those three would be playing some kind of game with Will tonight," El pointed her thumb to the boys in the backseat. "Is it ok if Max joins us?" El asks Lily, making Max's eyes widen and look at Lily hopefully - a Girl's Night where she has been invited, instead of hanging with 4 boys that would be playing with the Dungeons and Dragons game Mike brought.

"Of course, any friend of El's is a friend of mine," Lily smiled, reaching over and shaking her hand with Max's. "See you tonight, Ellie," Lily says, running back into the diner with a wave.

El takes the break off, and shifts the car into gear (as she drives a stick shift), and tries to look at the main road. "Little help guys, can't see, is it clear?" She asks as the boys turned their head to look down the main street.

A couple of cars went past and Mike (who had been driving longer than the rest) spoke up. "Closest lane is clear, go," he watched in awe, as El stuck the car in reverse, and pushed out into the traffic, keeping in the lane and driving away from the diner. 

* * *

The car that El drove pulled up at the Byers new home, which had a big enough driveway for the two cars (El and Will's as well as Joyce's and on the occasion that he's home, Jonathan's).

El shut the engine off and got out of the car. She pushed the seat back, and Mike clambered out as Lucas and Dustin got out of Max's side. El smiled at Mike, as she pushed the seat back.

"El, can I talk to you in a little bit?" Mike asks, as he thinks about resting a hand on the small of her back - but thinks against it and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, of course," El smiles, being a bit brave as she reaches up and presses a kiss to Mike's cheek. 

* * *

About 20 minutes after the Party™ arrived at the Byers new home, there was a porch swing on the front, 3 bedrooms (with two beds in Will's room for when Jonathan comes home from University). Max was sat on El's bed, reading through the magazines that were sat on El's desk, as El read the 9th book in the Sweet Valley High series (Max had given her the first one for Christmas in 1984). _Sweet Valley High - Racing Hearts_.

"I still can't believe you're reading those!" Max smiled, coming across a poster of Bruce Willis (who was starring in the upcoming film _Die Hard_ and was happily gazing at him).

"They're really good!" El defends, as a knock came on the door jam. The pair looked at up and saw Mike with his knuckle pressed to the jam.

He gives the love of his life a smile and offers his hand. "You wanna talk?" He asks, and his smile widens when El puts down her precious and well-loved _Sweet Valley High_ book down, putting a bookmark between the pages and went to join Mike. 

"Oh, Max," the girl in question looks up from the magazine. "If I find out you've taken my Patrick Swayze poster, I'll kill you," El smiles in a threatening way, and walks away with Mike - refusing to let the poster of Johnny from Dirty Dancing go.


	3. Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and El talk about how things were left in Hawkins.

Mike was trailing behind El, her hand holding his, and took a stab in the dark and intertwined their fingers. He smiling at her, as she took him down the corridor and out of the front door, to the porch swing that Mike saw when they arrived.

"What did you want to talk about?" El asks, sitting on the porch bench, and patting the seat next to her. Mike takes the seat next to her.

"I missed you so much, El!" Mike starts, reaching over and taking her hand. "Recently, we haven't talked as much as what we said we would, and I haven't even seen you since that Thanksgiving when I came up here," Mike explains, feeling every ounce of hurt flooding through him as he remembers the days that went past without word from El - and there were times when he was so busy he never said a word to El.

El's face falls. "I know, I missed you too, Mike," El releases his hand and rests it on his cheek, making Mike nuzzle his face into her hand, having missed her warm touch. "It's just since we got jobs, and with exams coming up, we haven't had time to talk," El sighs, her hand going from Mike's cheek and into his dark hair.

"I know you 'dumped my ass', but you are still my favourite person in the world," Mike said, and saw that El wanted to interrupt him, but he kept talking. "I know that I won't see you as much anymore until we go to college, or we go to the same college," Mike said, shuffling closer to her on the bench.

"Mike, you know I never meant to 'dump your ass', we were 14, we didn't really know what we were doing," El said, wanting to defend her stupid young self. "I hope that we can go to the same college, or that if we end up at different ones, we could always travel and see each other!" El smiled, her fingers tightening around the strands of hair on Mike's head.

Mike shuffled in his seat and continued smiling at her. "I just can't keep living in Hawkins, knowing that you're out here - probably getting all the attention of every boy in town," that made El giggle and smile even more. "It's just..." Mike trailed off trying to get what he wants to say off his chest. Mike opened and closed his mouth, trying to figure out what to say.

"You can say anything to me, Mike, you know that," El said, as some of her hair fell into her face. Mike reached over and pushed the lock away from her eyes.

"When I pulled you out of the rain, I knew there was something different about you, there were girls I'd had crushes on before - I'll admit that, but you," Mike started, wanted to get all of this off his chest. "You were different there was something about you, I couldn't put my finger on it then - but I can now. Then you disappeared, 353 days away from me, and you came walking in - all punked up and ready for a fight, and you shut the gate! Hopper carried you out of that car, and you looked like you were on the brink of death, it terrified me!" Mike gasped, remembering how much of a rag doll El looked like, with blood dripping down her nose and it had started coming out of her ears, which he still couldn't understand. "Those 6 months I spent with you, were the best of my life, I probably pissed off the rest of the party to no end, but I just wanted to spend as much time as I possibly could with you after I spent so much time away from you. Then that hell of summer arrived, and Hopper was taken from you - far too soon in my opinion, I miss him shouting at us to keep the door open three inches," Mike released a smile, wishing that he hadn't been such a little shit to him.

El giggled, and shuffled in more, so her head was tucked underneath Mike's chin, making him sigh happily and wrap his arms around her. " _Hey! Hey! What did I say? Three-inches minimum!_ " El put on her 'Hopper voice', and the pair laughed at how El sounded.

"And then the Byers took you under their wing, and they were already moving away - so that meant you had to as well, and since you went - I have missed you like crazy!" Mike admitted, running a hand through his hair, and pulling back so he can look her in the eyes - he finally worked up the courage to say to her. "I still love you, El," Mike says, looking down at her with so much love in his eyes.

"I know," El smiled, as Mike looked down at El, in shock that she knows the famous line from Empire Strikes Back - Han Solo and Princess Leia.

He blinks repeatedly, "has Will shown you Empire Strikes Back?" He asks, receiving a nod from her, and he wraps her tighter in a hug. "The girl I love can quote Star Wars!" Mike exclaims, jumping off the porch swing and proceeded to swing El around in his arms. El - the girl of his dreams.

"Mike!" El exclaimed loudly, giggling and squealing in his arms, before begging him to put her down. "Mike," she grabbed him by the face, so he was looking her in the eyes. "I still love you too," she smiles happily. 

* * *

After Mike and El shared multiple kisses and hugs, they walked back into the Byers home with their hands intertwined, and when El saw Lucas, Dustin and Will looking at the pair - El turns to Mike.

"I'll let you spend time with the guys," El smiles, pressing a kiss to his cheek, and leaves him with the boys and goes to rejoin Max in her bedroom.

Mike sighs and lets his fingers unhook themselves from El's fingers and watches her go around the corner, with his 'heart-eyes'. Once El had gone around the corner, Mike turned around to the group of boys and sat in front of the coffee table with a smile on his face.

"Oh, god, Michael 'Heart-Eyes' Wheeler is back," Dustin sighed heavily, and his head fell to the table, as Lucas reached into one of the many bags that they had brought, and pulled out a well battered and well-loved board game of _Monopoly_ , that they knew not to play - however, they did anyway. 

* * *

Max and El were happily flicking through the magazines that were stacked on El's desk, as well as the ones that Max had brought (which includes Max's mom's Cosmo, that Max promised to show her in 1985).

They were doing one of the quizzes that is in one of the magazines that Max had brought with her when they heard one loud shout of glee and another of despair as there were two other voices of laughter.

"Shit! Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard!" The shout of Dustin, made Max start to laugh, realising that the boys were playing Monopoly.

"Pay up, Dustin!" Was the exclamation from one Mike Wheeler, making Max raise her eyebrows, Mike has never been able to get Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd!

Max gets up off the floor and looks down at El, who was still looking through the magazine - not wanting to get involved with whatever the boys are doing. "Come on! Let's go see what the boys are doing?" 

* * *

Max and El walk around the corner and see the three boys sat around the coffee table with the _Monopoly_ board set out and in play. There was a lot of money sitting in front of Mike, and the ones sat in front of Lucas and Dustin was getting thinner and thinner.

"I thought I told you guys not to play Monopoly any more!" Max exclaimed, crossing her arms, and looking at the three somewhat guilty faces looking back at them.

Mike looked at El, and smiled at her, "Why don't we start again, and let the girls join in?" Mike offers.


	4. Board Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They bring out Trivial Pursuit and see how well they all know the knowledge of things/people in the world and how they came to be.

The Party™ decided to team up, rather than playing individually, with Mike and El teaming up as well as Lucas and Max - leaving Dustin to team up with Will (Dustin wasn't complaining about the teams, but he was kind of hoping to 'mix it up a little' rather than sticking to its usual teams...)

Mike and El were leaning against the sofa, El was watching Lucas and Dustin set up another game of Monopoly, and Mike had his long arm leaning against the cushions of the sofa, and it ended up hanging around El's shoulder. 

* * *

With the board game set up, the shuffled closer to the little table and watched as they rolled the two dice to see who would be going first.

Lucas and Max rolled a 2, Dustin and Will followed with an 8, as Mike and El followed with a 5 - which determined that Dustin and Will would be rolling first. 

* * *

Will rolled for him and Dustin, landing on a brown space (indicating Arts & Literature), Mike reached over and picked up the first card. "Arts and Literature. **Which Renaissance artist liked to pump iron by lifting weights, and was strong enough to bend an iron horseshoe with his bare hands?** " Mike asks, his eyebrows raised at the strange question.

The only Renaissance artists that Dustin could think of were the Ninja Turtles. Even Will didn't know, and he is taking art for one of his extracurricular classes. "Raphael?" Will offers, not really knowing the answer.

"No. Leonardo da Vinci!" Mike said, making the rest of the group look extremely shocked.

"I knew he did other things other than painting, but pumping irons?" Will said, shaking his head and allowing it to flow over him. 

* * *

It was Mike and El's turn to go next, and he handed the dice to his girlfriend, allowing her to roll - and they ended up on the green space. Science and Nature.

Max picked up the card and looked at her two best friends. "Science and Nature. **Alfred Nobel, the father of the Nobel Prize, made his fortune with the invention of which powerful tool?** " Max says, and Mike's eyes widened.

"I know this! Mr Clarke taught us this in middle school!" Mike said, holding his head into his hands and thought for a while. Max started making a tick-tock noise, and then Mike looked up. "Dynamite!"

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" Max exclaimed, handing them a green triangle, to put in their little pizza circle. 

* * *

It was Lucas and Max's turn, Max was able to get the dice before Lucas was, and when she rolled the dice, they also landed on the green space. Science and Nature. Again.

Dustin picked up the card, and said, "Science and Nature. **Edison's Electric Pen became the inspiration for which modern-day tool?** " He put the card down and the rest of the Party™ looked as Max and Lucas conversed.

"Electric Pen. What's the closest thing today that we're gonna get to that?!" Max says, rubbing her temples as she thought.

"I mean, you draw with a pen, so an electric one would be like a tattoo gun?" Lucas says, looking over at Dustin. Who simply pushed a little green triangle over to the couple. 

* * *

Dustin rolled for Will and himself and landed on their second Art and Literature spot. This time El picked up the card (her vocabulary having widened since they left Hawkins in the October of 1985). "Art and Literature. **Who was the first major author to read his own work in public for profit?** " She asked, making Mike look at her in awe, proud of her vocabulary, and how well she had pronounced 'literature'.

"J. R. R. Tolkien," Dustin said, putting his fist on the table, making the pieces jump, as well as El in her spot.

Mike looked over her shoulder and saw the answer. "Charles Dickens, buddy," Mike said, putting the card between El's fingers at the bottom of the pile. 

* * *

Mike then rolls the dice and landed on the blue spot - geography. Geography wasn't Mike's strong subject.

Lucas picked up the card and said to the other couple. "Geography. **Which plant does Gilroy, California, celebrate every summer during a three-day festival?** " On the inside, Max was grinning widely, having visited this festival several times throughout her life so far.

El has a look on her face that stated that she didn't know the answer, and so it was handed to Mike (who also didn't know the answer). "Dates?" He offers, shrugging his shoulders.

"Max?" Lucas looks to her, and she blurts out the answer.

"Garlic," she smiled.


End file.
